Terra Nova
by HarryPotter'sgirl17
Summary: All it took was one little girl to completely throw off Clark's entire world...
1. Wait What?

**Chapter One: Wait… What?!?**

Clark Kent walked through the door to his old boyhood home and sighed as he loosened the tie that was slowly choking the life out of him. It had been a long, trying day and all Clark really wanted to do was rest and relax with a hot cup of coffee.

No sooner had the thought left his brain, did a cup of freshly brewed coffee appear under his nose, the tantalizing aroma already causing his muscles to unclench.

"You are a Godsend," Clark muttered as he took the cup and, after breathing deep of one of his favorite smells, downed half the contents in one long swallow. "Some of these days I think you literally came to Smallville to save me…"

"I thought that was your job, Clark," Lois Lane replied, slightly shifting the pink bundle in her arms as it let out a gurgle at the sound of her father's voice, before lifting a tiny arm to wave in his direction. "Rough day at the office?"

"Chased down three stories, same amount of criminals andhelped stopped a burning building." Clark sighed, finishing off his drink as he flopped tiredly onto the sofa and looked around at all the decorations that Lois managed to put up while he was gone. "You did a good job, honey…"

Lois shrugged a shoulder as she sat on the armrest of the couch, "I figured you could put up the tree when Chloe and Oliver visit later while I keep the munchkins out of you guys' hair. By the way, Chloe said to tell you Emma is starting to talk now."

Sighing at the reminder, Clark shuffled out of his coat and found a more comfortable spot on the sofa, "Here I thought ours would talk first. Did you call your father about spending Christmas with us?"

Lois made a face at him as she gently placed her daughter in his arms so she could try to rub some of the tension out of his shoulders. "Ours has the superpowers, Clark, and The General and your mother will be in Washington until New Years, so we'll have the house all to ourselves."

The baby that had been laying contently in Clark's arms let out a shrill shriek at the omission, beating her tiny fists on her father's chest with the strength of a baby elephant. Clark just smiled at the action, capturing her hands in the process.

"Yes, you'll be here too," Clark cooed, nuzzling the baby as she giggled happily at the attention. "Like we'd go anywhere without you, right, Lois?"

"Yes, honey," A slight note of steel entered Lois' voice, telling Clark that he was in trouble for something. "You even get to go to Daddy's Fortress despite my many protests…"

"I was with her the entire time," They had this argument over a thousand times now and Clark was getting sick of repeating himself. _It's not like a regular doctor could know what was normal for her…_ "She was completely safe-"

"That doesn't explain why you had to drag me up there when I was six months pregnant!"

"You had been complaining of stomach pains, I wanted to make sure you both were okay! She is half Kryptonian, Lois, I wanted to make sure that giving birth wouldn't kill you!" Clark started to rock his angel, who had begun to fuss at all the arguing, "I couldn't just walk into Smallville Medical and ask if a human could give birth to a half alien baby without complications!"

"I said **hunger** pains, Smallville, not stomach pains!" Lois gave Clark's shoulder a playful swat before reaching over and stroking her daughter's hair, helping her calm down, "You just went all uber protective and dragged us up there, practically interrogating Jor-El the entire time to make sure we'd be safe. If you had your way, we'd **still** be up there!"

"Well, I learned a long time ago to never argue with my wife, especially when she's pregnant," Clark countered, snagging Lois' hand and placing a gentle kiss against the back of it, the light catching on the ring on her finger.

It was his mother's wedding ring, and her mother's before her, and on for almost ten generations. Despite the fact that Clark could've easily made Lois a more elaborate piece, the simple diamond that had been a part of his family's history meant so much more and it showed Lois just how much he loved her.

"You know it, buster," Lois smiled as Clark laid another kiss on her hand, this time against her palm, before returning his gaze to the baby, who was starting to squirm at the inattention.

"So, how's my little girl?" Clark asked, bouncing the little cherub in his arm, enjoying the fact that he could make her laugh and giggle so easily, "How's my little angel?"

"She decided to scare Mommy half to death by floating above her crib," Lois informed him as he loosened his tie and pulled it off of his head, his little girl grabbing at the ends. "I nearly called 911 before I saw her bobbing around the ceiling."

"Oh, really? That's new, she could only hover before," Clark chuckled as he watched Lois walk into the kitchen to check on their dinner before giving his daughter a wide grin that she gleefully returned, "You shouldn't scare Mommy like that, sweetie. Save the floating for when Daddy is home, okay?"

His daughter gave a happy gurgle and then proceeded to follow her father's advice by floating out of the crook of Clark's arms for a few seconds before returning.

Laughing aloud for the first time that day, Clark gave his little miracle a kiss on the forehead, praising her as she took flight once more. "That's my baby girl!"

"Sometimes I wish I still had that necklace you got from Jor-El when I was pregnant," Lois smiled at her floating daughter before shaking her head as the little munchkin landed and gave a wide yawn, "She sure is a handful these days."

"Well, we just live to give you a hard time," Clark grinned as he stood up and brought his little bundle of joy over to her crib to lay her down. Her little flight seemed to have tired her out and she was now sleeping in Clark's arms. "Just wait until she's a teenager…"

Walking over to where Clark stood hovering protectively over their daughter, Lois kissed him on the cheek, whispering "Merry Christmas, Smallville" as she joined in watching their daughter sleep.

A sudden slamming noise had Clark jerking upwards, making the blanket he had been twisting himself in, the thing that had really been cutting off his air, slip down his bare chest.

_A dream, the whole thing had been some kind of dream…_ Clark threw both hands over his face and fell back onto his bed with a deep groan. Why was it the only time he and Lois were together, no lies between them, was in his dreams?

A soft sniffle alerted Clark to the fact that he was not alone in his room and it had him jerking upwards once more to find out where the sound was coming from.

The sound was coming from a small child standing at the end of Clark's bed, her sky blue eyes filled with tears that were threatening to spill over, her waist length blonde hair was pushed out of her face as she blearily rubbed her eyes. Clark was about to ask her what she was doing in his room, what she was doing in his **house**, when she broke the silence first.

"I had a bad dweam, Daddy, can I sweep in hewe?" Her wide, strangely familiar eyes caught the fact that half the bed was unoccupied and worriedly added, "Whewe's Mommy?"

Clark Kent, despite the fact that his mental powers could rival that of many supercomputers and he could solve problems within a second's notice, was only able to stare as he stuttered out, "Excuse me?"

**A/N: First off, just to get it out of the way, Smallville does not belong to me, my family or my friends. It belongs to the CW, DC Comics, etc, etc.**

**Secondly, this is a collaboration between myself and Mini-Slayer. We seem to get our best ideas when one of us is sick and/or sleepy. We started brainstorming this at 8 am and had the final draft written out by 1 pm.**

**We hope you enjoy it and reviews are always welcome, as well as constructive criticisms.**

**Thank you for reading!**


	2. I'm Tara, Silly!

**Chapter Two: I'm Tara, Silly!**

The girl simply stared at Clark, getting more agitated by the second by the apparent lack of her 'Mommy' and Clark wasn't sure what he should do about the entire thing. How was he suppose to explain to a little girl he had no idea who she was or even who her mother was?!?

Thankfully, his phone decided to ring at that very moment, saving him from the questions he was sure the little girl would ask and he wasn't sure he'd be able to answer without one of them breaking down into tears…

"Hey, Clark," Chloe said by way of greeting as soon as he opened his phone, "I need you at Watchtower, we got a bit of a problem…

"You and me both," Clark muttered, watching the blonde who was in turn gazing him just as closely. She was now sitting on the edge of his bed and was holding something that reminded Clark of his old baby blanket. Her head was tilted slightly, almost as if she could hear the other side of his conversation.

"What was that?" Chloe asked, the sound of her keyboard clicking away in Clark's ear. "This new phone Oliver got me keeps breaking down at the worst moments… Did you say something, Clark?"

"Never mind," Clark made to stand up and get dressed before quickly sitting back down again, blushing under the scrutiny of bright sapphire orbs. "I'll be there in a few seconds, and I'm going to be bringing a… well, I guess you could say a guest."

"**What**?" Clark closed the phone on Chloe's surprised shriek and turned his attention to the kid that was almost sitting on his lap. She seemed to be less upset now that she was closer to him.

"Do you have any other clothes?" He asked, making sure to keep his voice soft so he wouldn't accidentally scare her. She was clad in loose, red pajamas that fell to her ankles, something that he would've worn at her age and Clark knew that, while warm, they weren't the most comfortable things to wear all day.

"Nope, I can't find them." Her face split into a smile that made something in Clark's chest melt, "Mommy must be doing waundwy, she always woses stuff that way."

Immediately reminded of the brunette that held a major role in his dream, Clark found himself grinning as well. "I think I know exactly what you mean!"

"Of couwse you do, silly!"

Not about to argue, Clark simply asked, "Do you think you could wait outside while I get dressed? It'll only take a second…" Her eyes started to fill up with tears, making Clark quickly add, "You can play with the dog while you wait!"

"Kay!" With a bound, the little girl went from sitting on his bed to standing in front of his door. Giggling, she pulled it open and bounded down the stairs were a happy shriek of "Shewby!" and an answering bark was heard.

_Okay, she knows who I am, she knows who Shelby is, she thinks I'm her dad… Did I get amnesia again?? This'll be the, what, fourth time?? _Clark super-sped around his room and was dressed in a few seconds. Picking up the blanket the girl left on his bed when she left, and a bunny he hadn't spotted before, he headed downstairs.

Despite the fact that Clark was, quite literally, gone only a few seconds, the girl managed to pour Shelby some dog food, get out the cereal and milk, and pour herself some breakfast as well. She was now laughing at Shelby licking up the milk that she managed to get all over the kitchen floor, but not, surprisingly, on the counter or in her bowl.

"Shelby seems to be enjoying himself," Clark grinned as the dog in question started to lick the little blonde's toes, causing her to giggle and push at his head with her feet.

"It's not my fauwt!" She continued to giggle as Shelby dodged her attempts to get him to stop and kept licking her feet, "Shelby keeps tickwing me! Stop that!"

Laughing as well, Clark cleaned up the mess in record time to cheers from the little girl and managed to get the milk **in** the bowl this time around. "We're going to see a friend of mine after you're done with breakfast. It that okay?"

"Speedy? Or Fish stick?" Clark laughed again at the nicknames she gave to his friends, knowing that she must know who Oliver was as well. He was really starting to worry that he was hit with another amnesia episode or something that was blocking his memory, but the only thing he couldn't remember was who this little girl was…

"All done!" The blonde munchkin drank up the last of her milk and placed bowl and spoon in the sink before turning to Clark expectantly, a smile spreading across her features.

"Come here," Clark said, bending down as the girl threw herself at him. Getting a good grip on her, Clark handed her the blanket and bunny as he warned, "This is going to be a little windy, but you can't let go, alright?"

Her eyes wide, the little girl burrowed even closer to Clark's side as she tried to wrap her arms as far around his body as she could. Another strange, but not completely foreign, feeling pulled at Clark's chest as he also tightened his grip ever-so-slightly.

"Ready?"

At her nod, Clark took off at a slightly decreased pace than normal. After a few minutes, he realized he shouldn't have worried when he caught on that the muffled sounds coming from under his jacket were giggles.

Stepping through the door to Watchtower, Clark was greeted by Chloe slamming into his arms as she tried to hug both him and the little girl still hiding under his jacket.

"Where have you **been**?!?" Her voice held a barely hidden note of worry in it, "You said a few seconds, it's almost been **twenty** minutes! What did you do, **drive**?"

"It's not really nice to keep a lady waiting, Kent," Oliver, who had been standing off to the side, decided to add his two cents worth; but, before Clark could retort, a blonde head poked out of his jacket and spotted the billionaire.

"Uncwe Aaaaawwwwwwiiiiiiieeeeee!!!"

Before anyone could move or even register that she had spoken, the little girl had jumped out from under Clark's jacket, sped across the room, and tackled Oliver Queen…

…right through a coffee table.

"Uncwe Awwie, Uncwe Awwie, Uncwe Awwie!!!" Still calling out his name, the young blonde proceeded to squeeze the life out of the head of Queen Industries.

Slowly loosing oxygen and all feeling in his lower limbs, Oliver tried to call out for help, but the only sound that made it past his lips was a strangled gurgle.

"Let up, kid, he's turning blue!" Chloe couldn't keep the mirth out of her demand; because, let's face it, Oliver Queen being completely bowled over by a little kid was the funniest thing she's seen in years!

"Oh, sowwy," Releasing her grip, the little kid picked up, as in **lifting him off the floor**, Oliver Queen and set him on his feet again. Her bright blues watched him worriedly as he caught his breath.

Which he did after a few deep, **deep** breaths and the first thing he asked was, "Did I just get tackled by a bulldozer?"

"No, silly," The little girl let loose a giggle that had Clark feeling jealous for some reason, "I gave you a hug!"

Oliver's jaw dropped as she continued to smile up at him, "I just got my a-a-butt kicked by a little girl? She's got superpowers, right?! That makes a difference, right?!?"

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Oliver," Chloe giggled even more at the look on his face, bringing the little girl's attention to her instead of the blond billionaire. As soon as she saw who had spoken, the little girl's eyes lit up in recognition.

"Auntie Chwoe!" There was another blur of movement, but this time the receiver of the munchkin's hug managed to stay on her feet, something that caused her grin to grow even wider as her friend continued to grumble very loudly.

"Hey, kid," Chloe answered, running fingers through familiar blonde locks. The girl had a look of Kara about her, but her hair was a muted blonde that had a bit of brown in it and those blue eyes were without a doubt Clark's sapphire orbs… She gazed into them often enough to know the exact shape and hue of his eyes…

"Would somebody mind telling me what's going on?" Oliver demanded after a few seconds of silence, "First, the midget run in here and nearly breaks my back while calling me 'Uncle Ollie', then she turns around and calls Chloe 'Aunt Chloe'… Is she your kid or something, Clark?"

"Duh, Uncwe Awwie!" The girl giggled as she ran to Clark and wrapped her arms around his legs before he reached down to pick her up. "You let me pway with Emma all the time, you know who I am!"

"Uh-huh," Oliver's tone contradicting his words as he nodded at her, "and Emma is…?"

"Your daughter, silly! You and Auntie Chwoe!"

"_By the way, Chloe said to tell you that Emma is starting to talk now."_

Gazing at the little girl in his arms, Clark couldn't help but be shocked that his dream was coming true in this way. Oliver and Chloe, married? This little angel was his…was Lois the mother? Was Lois and him…were they… together? Looking up at a whimper, Clark saw that his friends were taking the news as well as he was.

Oliver had lost all color and Chloe was red from head to toe, neither one was looking at the other and neither seemed to be able to speak until Chloe cleared her throat with an uncomfortable look still lingering on her stricken features.

"You seem to know all about us, but what's **your** name?"

"You know my name, Auntie Chwoe; you always yell it when I pway on your computer, run awound the house, tell Emma my Daddy is stwonga than her Daddy, and say 'Tawa, don't make me call Mommy!." To complete her statement, Tara put a hand on her hip and waggled her finger in Chloe's direction. Clark thought the whole thing was adorable.

His daughter was adorable…

Jerked out of his thoughts by the ringing of his phone, Clark opened it and was greeted by Lois shrieking in his ear that he was going to be late in ten minutes, Tess was on a warpath and he'd better hurry his country ass to the Daily Planet, pronto!

Sighing as he shut the phone, Clark looked at the girl in his arms who was wearing a distressed expression at the stricken looks that were still lingering on Oliver and Chloe's faces. What was he going to do with her at the Daily Planet? Lois was counting the PDA for each date and had stated multiple times that she wanted to take their relationship slow… There was no telling how she'd react to a little girl claiming to be her daughter… With his luck, she jet off again like she did the first time he **really** kissed her…

"What am I going to do with you?" Clark asked idly, bring Tara's attention back to himself as she smiled widely at him, "I have to go work or Lois will flay me alive…"

"What does fway mean, Daddy?"

Chloe and Oliver, despite being shocked by the news that they just received, were not blind to the way that Clark's eyes softened and his voice took on a paternal note as he explained, "It means that she will be very, very mad at Daddy, sweetie."

"He doesn't seemed to have a problem with the fact that a kid dropped into his lap," Oliver remarked, grinning at Tara promising to protect her daddy from mean old ladies. "I would've thought he'd deny it until he was blue in the face and the girl was in tears."

"Of **course** he's happy, Oliver," Chloe reprimanded her billionaire friend, even going as far as to give him a swat on his arm, "All Clark ever wanted was a family of his own. One of his greatest fears is that he'd never be able to have kids, or that he might endanger the woman he ever decided to impregnate…"

"Well, there's the other end of the problem," Oliver retorted, blocking Chloe's view of Clark Kent tossing his little girl up in the air and catching her as she giggled loudly. "Who is the kid's mother, and do you think that she'd be just as happy about the new addition in her life?"

Chloe was about to reply that she had a pretty good idea on who the mother was, but Clark's phone started ringing again and the groan that Clark made at the sound drew everyone's attention to him again.

"Hey, Clark, why don't you leave the kid here with Chloe and me before Lois decides to test that hearing of yours?" Oliver quipped, reaching his arms out for Tara, the little girl reaching out for him in return, her smile nearly splitting her face in half.

However, instead of passing the child off to his friend, Clark pulled her closer to his chest, making Chloe's eyebrows push together as she watched the interaction. She knew that Clark was overprotective when it came to the people he loved and him and Ollie weren't on the best of terms, but what had the billionaire done to make Clark react like that? More importantly, why hadn't anyone told **her** of the bad blood that existed between the two of them?

"I don't know, Oliver," Clark's face had transformed into his 'Kal-El' expression, the same look that had dominated his features when he had told her that Clark Kent was dead a few months ago. It always made a little shiver go down Chloe's spine whenever she saw it. "Can I trust you to keep your word this time?"

Oliver's face also closed off as he gave their favorite Boy Scout a look that could only be described as 'icy'. "I made a mistake, Clark, I'm human, and I can only apologize so many times. Now, are you going to leave the kid with me, or not?"

"My name is Tawa, not kid!" The protestation went unnoticed by both males, who were currently trying to stare each other to death; Oliver was just lucky Clark forgot he had heat vision for the moment.

After what seemed like hours, but was really only a few minutes with Clark's cell phone screaming in the background, the Man of Steel relinquished his daughter into Oliver's waiting arms, but not without one final warning:

"This is my daughter, Oliver, my family. **Don't** screw up."

With that, he super sped out of the building, toward the Daily Planet and the brunet reporter screaming into her phone, leaving the three occupants of Watchtower to stare after him in frustration, confusion and apprehension.

Oliver sighed and looked down at the blonde in his arms, "Daddy's a bit of a pain in the ass, isn't he?"

"Oliver!" Chloe reprimand reminded him that he was talking to a small child right as said child broke into a fit of giggles. Shrugging apologetically at Chloe, Oliver was about to edit his statement before his attention was diverted by a tug on his arm.

"What's up?"

Wide, blue eyes looked up at him in utter trust, making something in Oliver's heart clench. He wouldn't screw up, Tara would have nothing but praise to tell when her uptight, pain in the patella, father came back.

Another tug told him he was getting distracted again, so Oliver refocused his attention on the girl in his arms. "Sorry, didn't hear you. What was that?"

"I hafta go to the baffoom."

"Oh, uh, okay…" Turning, Oliver gave Chloe a silent plea of help that she only giggled at. No help there. "Can you go by yourself?"

"Of couwse," Tara sounded affronted that he even asked that question, which made Oliver grin. _She kinda sounds like Lois…_ "I just don't know where the baffoom is…"

Oliver was just about to tell the mini Kent were the bathroom was when a sudden rush of air blew past him to stop by Chloe, reveling itself to be their second favorite speeder laying a kiss on the back of her hand as he looked at her adoringly.

"How ya doin', Chloelious? Miss me so bad you just had to call? You know I love ya, babe, you didn't have to make something up to get me to Smallville…"

"I doubt it, Impulse," AC made his much more slower way into Watchtower, Victor right behind him, and gave Oliver a bump on the shoulder, "With this guy keeping her company, why would she bother wasting any of her time on you?"

The unintentional reminder of their future had Oliver and Chloe blushing again, but before anyone could tease them for it, a voice coming from around the region of their knees interrupted.

"I hafta go **really bad **and if I don't find a baffoom, I'm gonna have an axadent!!" Tara crossed her little legs and started bouncing up and down to emphasize her point, something that Oliver probably would've laughed at if the situation wasn't so serious.

"It's this way!" Chloe snagged Tara off the floor, running toward the backroom and a toilet, leaving the other three members of the Justice League to stare after her in shock.

"What-? How-? When-?" Bart stammered, staring after Chloe like someone had stolen his favorite toy. He turned to AC and Victor, as if one of them could answer, but both males just shook their heads.

Oliver decided to use their temporary inattention to try to sneak out a back way as well, but he only made it halfway across the room before their was another rush of air and a very angry Bart Allen standing in front of him.

"Oliver Queen, you have some explaining to do!"


	3. A Trip Down Memory Lane

**Chapter Three: A Trip Down Memory Lane**

The first time Lois Lane had met Clark Kent, he was naked; completely and utterly nude, not a stitch of clothing anywhere… She also had no clue as to who he was or what he was doing out in the middle of a cornfield. She explained away the nakedness as the result of getting hit by the flash of lightning earlier and, after taking a peek despite telling herself not to, she wrapped him up in a blanket and drove him to the hospital despite his claim that he was 'fine'.

He was busy playing the silent, amnesia victim the whole ride there, so she filled the car with chatter about how they would get him the best medical attention available, that the amnesia would probably only be a side effect and that she really love to stay and make sure he had everything set up right, but she did have a dead cousin to try to avenge… one way or the other.

He watched her the entire time that she drove, barely even blinking and the sight of those intense, baby blue orbs staring directly at her made a blush stain her cheeks for the entire drive, something she was surprised that Smallville didn't tease her about when he got his reboot later.

She would never admit it to anyone ever, but the fact that he had tried to tease her later on when she was by Chloe's grave, just to get her to cheer up a bit, was one of the thing that she first liked about Clark, despite the fact that she griped at him about it. Hearing him tell her that Chloe was alive and finding out for herself later that he was right made her pay attention to what the unassuming farm boy said after that and also made her reconsider just brushing off the country kid.

It didn't take long to figure out that her cousin was in love with Clark, or the fact that her love was a lost cause when Clark first clapped his eyes on Lana Lang. Her incredulity was not at the fact that the two had enough history to fill a few books-history that was simply described as a 'complicated thing'-but the fact that Lana seemed so **wrong** for Clark that Lois would've laughed if someone suggested it to her. The girl was a pampered princess who would never survive on a farm and Clark would suffocate within a day in her high corporate world…

It didn't seem to stop the two, as a matter of fact, it seemed to make them try even harder to capture what they had lost; for the longest time they revolved around each other, like fallen stars trying to reclaim a lost orbit that no longer worked. Lana was too obsessed with trying to control Clark's life and learn all his secrets while Clark kept trying to find the girl he knew in high school, not knowing that she had become the woman Lana was now.

Despite the fact that she thought that his relationship with Lana was a walking danger zone, Lois came to realize there was a lot more to Clark Kent then a nice… pair of abs; he was loyal to a fault, he always tried to see the best in people and gave them second, third and fourth chances to prove him wrong, he always tried to help and seemed to be carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. But what could Smallville farm boy Clark Kent know that put that weight there?

He also seemed to take on the responsibility of being Lois' unofficial big brother; every boy that showed the slightest interest in her was immediately grilled in a manner that would've made the General proud. It had irked Lois that he felt she couldn't take care of herself-and for a while she thought that was why most of them left-but a hidden part of her was thrilled he cared enough to look after her like that.

That traitorous part of her grew when Oliver Queen came and went into her life, making her feel worthwhile and loved for the first time in a long time. Finding out that he was the Green Arrow explained why he always seemed to disappear right when things started to get interesting…

(There had been moments when Lois had feared that something was wrong with **her** that made him keep leaving like that and he was just too much of a gentleman to admit it. Underneath all the anger she threw at him, there had been a trace of relief that it had been his superhero duty that made him vanish and not her.)

Clark had, surprisingly, been the one who had picked her up out of her depression after she had broken up with Oliver. Lois had been sitting on her couch, plowing through a tub of Ben and Jerry's, wondering why girls claimed it made them feel better and too upset to stop eating the frozen treat when Clark walked in, a look of compassion on his face that told Lois he knew that Oliver had left, that the one relationship she had tried so hard to make work had failed.

Again.

_I can't do it, Smallville... I can't be left behind again... _She remembered whispering brokenly, right before Clark's strong arms wrapped around her, offering a rarity that Lois longed for ever since she was a child: unconditional comfort, nothing attached or demanded in return.

The fact that Clark offered that to her so easily scared Lois, scared her so badly she immediately put up her walls that Clark had somehow bypassed and defaulted back into her 'sarcastic mode' as she quipped '_Besides, why bother with tall, rich and handsome when I can hang out with you?_'

He had chuckled at her comment, probably unaware that he had tightened his arms as he did, but Lois didn't mind. She just nestled against Clark's chest and let him comfort her in his strong, steady way...

Then came that day, the day that cemented everything that Lois had been feeling, had thrust it out into the open and shed light on the emotions she was trying so desperately to hide from everyone, including herself.

_Do you love him?_

Lois shivered as she remembered the way that man's breath fanned over his face, his eyes wide and unblinking on her face as he leaned closer, Clark insisting that she don't over-think it, that she just tell the truth... but the truth terrified her almost as much as what would happen when she lied.

_Do. You. Love. Him?_

A choked sob slipped past her lips, but she managed to keep the tears in as she responded, knowing it would change everything:

_Yes..._

Clark had tensed up, waiting for the shock that had ripped through him, that had scared Lois far more than the man that had captured them, but it never came. He looked at the contraption as if he was checking that it was still working, then he looked up at Lois, a look of utter and complete shock etched across his features.

Lois' heart clenched as she relived the moments that followed, the way the man had turned to Clark, asking him the same question and seeing Clark just staring at her, neither confirming or denying his feelings. This wasn't enough for the man and he drew closer, Clark seeming to crumple with every step he took, making Lois worry that the shock he got earlier had caused some kind of damage... only for him to slam his skull against the jeweler's face, the room clouding as sounds of blows being landed and Lois was stuck sitting there, fear making her throat close as she tried to see through the fog surrounding her...

Then Clark came walking through the mists like some sort of... superhero or something; lower lip split, but no longer bleeding as he asked if she was alright-**he **had been the one that got electrocuted and he was worried about how **she **was?-and waiting until Lois told him she wasn't sure before he started unbinding her, eyes flickering up to her face every now again as he did so.

Lois felt miserable.

It was obvious by the way kept looking at her that he didn't feel the same way and Lois wanted to scream at him that she didn't mean it, that she had no clue if what she was feeling was really love or just really powerful lust-Kent **was **a good looking guy, even **she** could see it-that she had been so scared that she would end up unintentionally hurting him again that she just blurted out the first thing that came to mind, not knowing it was a coerced confession...

But she didn't; she didn't say anything until the next day, and it was only when Clark had stopped her hasty retreat-_You're not avoiding me, are you?_-and held open the elevator door for her as well, insisting she ride down to the basement with him, claiming it was the safer way to travel.

The silence inside the elevator wasn't the strained kind of silence that Lois had been expecting and Clark looked very much at ease which, instead of calming Lois like she thought it would, it only made her that much more nervous. She snuck a look at Clark to see how he was dealing with all of this, but he continued to look forward and didn't seem to notice how trapped she was feeling.

The silence started to really get to her, so Lois switched into 'reporter mode' and started in on the story instead of the tension. She had much more practice dealing with that instead of her emotions. _He confessed, the jeweler..._

Clark had known already and was disgusted that the man had done his little game show host of death on five helpless couples and no one had noticed what was going on... which ultimately led to the question she hoped to avoid for the rest of her life. _Look, about that little 'test'..._

_Who knew you were such a good liar?_

He had given her an out, gave her a chance to take back what she had said during that psycho's 'test of loyalty' and Lois was both grateful and hurt that he had done so. Grateful, because the majority of her brain was screaming that it was too soon to get involved again, even with someone who knew her so well, and that it would screw up any sort of friendship they had if things didn't work out, which with her luck, was a very high possibility.

Hurt because Clark didn't press the issue, didn't point out that the jeweler would've noticed that she didn't have the sensor on her finger when he got all close and personal with her...

Hurt that he didn't say he felt the same way...

_Smallville... Everybody knows you're a terrible liar, who knows where we'd be if you answered that question?_

Maybe it would've been too soon and everything would've ended right there, both their relationship and the easy friendship they had-despite their rocky start and their vastly different personalities-or maybe they would've got where they were a lot sooner... Maybe Lana's hold on Clark wouldn't have been so strong when she showed up...

God, Lana... Lois really hated that woman; it wasn't enough that she broke Clark's heart the first time she left-who says goodbye with a damn **videotape**?-Lana the Living Doll decided to come back, build Clark's hopes up for a normal relationship with her and break it off all over again. What really made Lois' hair stand on end was that Clark seemed to... that they were just about to...

It did have one good point to it; she was able to talk to Ollie without feeling like breaking down afterward. As a matter of fact, she basically spilled that she was in love with Clark without really even saying it. Oliver had immediately caught on to what she was talking about, surprising Lois in the fact that he was alright with it and that her feelings were so open that others picked up on it before she did...

_I'm sure he's worth it, Lois._

_And how would you know?_

_Because I know Clark._

At that time, it seemed like it wasn't even close to worth it, not with the way her chest was feeling, not when she remembered the look on Clark's face; the combination of pain, surprise and a small spark of hope...

Everything seemed to deteriorate after that, even with Lana leaving for the what third?-fourth?-fifth?-time. Both Clark and Lois decided that their 'moment' at Chloe's wedding was a fluke, brought on by all the mushy feelings floating around them. Then everything got really screwy; Chloe running off with Davis, Jimmy dying and she didn't even remember three weeks of her life...

It was only the fact that Clark had shown up after being 'missing' for almost as long as she had been gone that had kept her from going insane with worry over what had happened in those missing days... a thought that plagued her even now...

Shaking her head, Lois firmly told herself that reliving the past was only going to give her a headache; Clark was involved with her now, they had reached date number five by now, things were going well, she hadn't vanished into the ether and there was no brunette in sight. Yet, it didn't stop the deep, hidden fear that Lana was going to show up yet **again** to try to take Clark away from her, not caring if they were in a relationship or not.

Clenching her fists, Lois smiled grimly as she made her way to her desk, a smile that made many of her coworkers scurry out of her way. She had a claim on Smallville now, so if that little pink princess showed up again, she would have to deal with Lois Lane, daughter of a four star General and absolutely deadly when it came to hand-to-hand combat. She didn't care what kind of half-assed training Barbie got in her hick town, Lois was trained by at least five different lieutenants at every fort she stayed at since she was of the age of four.

Lana Lang didn't have a snowball's chance in hell against Lois Lane, especially when it came to Clark...

Now that she was thinking about it, Clark never explained why Lana had left this time, probably thinking it was a sore subject for her and Lois was actually thankful for the fact that Clark kept Lana in a 'no fly zone' that Lois wasn't inclined to go near. Considering that she saw what looked like Clark's bed made into firewood when she had visited the Kent farm after all the Lang drama was finally over, Lois was pretty sure she didn't really want to know...

Pushing all thoughts of Lana out of her head and focusing on the fact that, after her initial phone call, Clark had yet to answer his phone again and it was starting to worry her more than she liked to admit, Lois finished her determined march across the ball pen and was about to sit in her chair when she noticed the blonde hair peeking out form the top of it.

"Hey, whoever you are, unless I'm mistaken, that's my seat you're currently sitting in and I've got a front page exclusive to write that's due yesterday. So you need to get your butt out of my chair so that I can start writing it and make my editor stop breathing down my neck, so get moving!"

The chair swiveled at the last of Lois' sentence, reveling a little girl in pajamas, all blonde hair and bright, startling familiar blue eyes that were looking up at her as if she just offered the runt a lifetime supply of candy. It made Lois hesitate for a second, because the kid looked so damn **familiar** and Lois was a reporter, she loved solving a good mystery.

Dropping the tough guy routine now that she knew some new scrub wasn't trying to steal her territory, Lois leaned owned and smiled at the child in front of her, unknowingly getting an almost identical one in return. "Hey, kid. Where are your-?"

The rest of Lois' question was cut off as the girl threw herself at the startled reporter, causing Lois to reflectively catch the female as she let loose a high pitched giggle and a single, entreating cry:

"Mommy!"

It was a good thing the kid had such a good grip, for as soon as that word left the blonde's lips, Lois' arms had dropped to her sides as she stared at the girl clinging to her with every intention of staying there forever with a combination of shock, horror and utter confusion.

"Son of a bitch..."


	4. A Trip Down Memory Lane Pt 2

**Chapter Four: A Trip Down Memory Lane: Part 2**

Clark super-sped out of Watchtower, trying to temper down the feeling that he should head right back around and snatch his daughter out of Oliver's arms and bring her back to the Daily Planet, consequences be damned. It only was the thought of what Lois would say to a little girl claiming to be his daughter and how badly that would deteriorate their budding relationship that kept him on his way.

He knew that this wasn't the first time a child had entered into his relationships before, Clark cringed as he remembered Evan and how badly that had ended up, but this was different; Tara was his flesh and blood, and his feelings for her had come into being as soon as he got over the shock of seeing a strange little girl in his house and they only grew as the day went on. He wasn't kidding around when he warned Oliver not to screw up this time...

Slowing down as he reached the block surrounding the Daily Planet building, Clark's thoughts were drawn to the woman who had been occupying his spare time and haunting his dreams for the past few months-well, at least those months that he was willing to admit to -and supposedly, if his dreams were right about **that** as well, the mother of the little girl that he had left with Oliver Queen and Chloe Sullivan; the one and only Lois Lane.

Clark found himself smiling as he thought of how much their friendship had changed since they first met: Despite the fact that he claimed to have no memory of their first encounter, Clark still felt a slight twinge of embarrassment at the fact that he was completely **naked** when he met Chloe's cousin...

Although, from the appreciative look Lois gave his nether regions before she made her eyes dart upward once more, she didn't seem to mind all that much about his lack of clothing. Nonetheless, it didn't stop him from feeling like an unintelligent hick whenever she mentioned the name "Clark Jr.".

To be fair, Lois wasn't the only one that had got an eyeful of something they weren't expecting; she had been in the shower in her apartment when she had heard what she thought was a burglar or something and, without bothering to get some clothes, had ripped open her door fully intending to bean them over the head...

...only to find Clark standing on the other side, trying as hard as possible **not** to stare at the sight of Lois Lane standing _**totally nude**_ in front of him. That had been one of the most awkward few weeks of his life, and Lois had gripped at him the entire time for it, as if **he** had opened the door instead of **her**.

The way they interacted after that was much like casual rivals; they always bantered back and forth, getting rises out of each other and basically walking all over the others' nerves. Clark would've been shocked at how they were acting, he was raised to be a gentleman, after all, and he had never treated any of the other woman in his life like he did her, but Lois proved right away that she **wasn't** like any of the other girls he knew and seemed to **enjoy** the bantering they never could seem to avoid...

Mom always watched them interact with this little smile on her face, as if she knew where they were heading with all their biting comments and needling, Dad... Dad just shook his head at them, washing his hands of the whole thing and only adding his thoughts on the matter when Clark felt like he was only two seconds away from smothering Lois with her pillow.

Clark could also remember, with effortless clarity, what his reaction was when someone had first suggested that he and Lois were really hiding their feelings from each other underneath all the fighting. Needless to say, it wasn't very positive.

Or quiet.

_Lois? She's bossy... _He had said, believing that was enough, but then quickly tagged on after his partner just looked at him in disbelief,_ She's stuck-up, she's rude, I can't stand her!_

His companion at that time had been none other than Lana Lang, who had only smiled at him and said that the best ones always started that way, ignoring the way he **still** protested up until she left. Clark grinned widely as he found himself wondering what he'd say to Lana about Lois **now**... probably that her first assessment was a lot closer to the mark than she originally thought!

Surprisingly enough, **Oliver**-the one guy that Clark thought might be able to tame Lois-had also seemed to think that he and Lois were just hiding how they felt as well, if what he said when Clark quipped that Lois' brashness was an acquired taste: _If I lived under the same roof with such a beautiful woman, I probably would've masked my feelings in sarcasm, too..._

At the time, Clark wasn't willing to admit that the stuck-up, rude, bossy Lois was really the most interesting thing to enter his life in a long while. Part of the reason was because she was unwilling to admit when she needed help, or the fact that he might be right about something, which then turned into him worrying about the fact that she seemed to have a death-wish permanently attached to her and that she **still **refused to admit he was ever right.

Even though Clark eventually admitted that his annoyance with Lois had turned to concern and that he learned to live with her straightforwardness and rather blunt way of saying things, another reason Clark Kent was so against feeling anything but exasperation for Lois-or, at least admitting it to anyone that he felt that way-was that he was still trying to recapture his relationship with Lana.

He shook his head as he remembered the 'advice' Lois had given him about his choice in women; _You need a little less Vanilla and a little more Wild Cherry in your life, Smallville... _It was a little ironic that she turned out to be just the 'Wild Cherry' he needed...

And need her he did...

Looking back now, Clark could see that those had been the most stressful years of his life, even without the complication of his growing feelings for Lois and his doomed pursuit of Lana:

Oliver Queen, Victor Stone, Arthur Curry and Bart Allen showing up had impressed Clark even more on his destiny as the last Son of Krypton and the future Jor-El set out for him, finding Kara-a bittersweet memory-and having her leave, the stones that had connected to form his Fortress and all the trouble that had come with it, being stuck in Lionel's body and **feeling** it die... the last snap that had thrown the scattered bits of his friendship with Lex to the four winds and made him start openly treating Clark like he was Lex's enemy, having his father and then Lionel die trying to protect him...

Maybe that was why he had tried to resurrect his relationship with Lana when even **complete **_**strangers**_were telling him it was doomed; after dealing with everything that being an alien came with, being with Lana made him feel normal and everything with her was familiar... until she found out his secret and joined the 'you have a greater destiny than being Clark Kent and I'm just a distraction' team, which led her to putting on the Prometheus suit...

It wasn't until he stopped by Theo's coffee stand to buy Lois her morning jolt of caffeine and maple donuts that Clark realized that he was thinking of Lana and it wasn't accompanied by the usual feelings of guilt and remorse... There was more of a sense of closure and muted betrayal on his feelings for Lois, considering how close he was to giving in to those feelings the last time Lana showed up:

It had been at Chloe's wedding-that seemed so long ago now-and they had played this slow, soft jazz number, causing all of the couples to gravitate toward the dance floor. Lois had shot Clark this aggravated look as she complained about her heels needing a rest as she attempted to breeze by him.

Clark wasn't sure who was more surprised when he suddenly stopped her by reaching out and grabbing her wrist, Lois or him, but he tried to play it off with an easy smile and a small nod to the dance floor, hoping she would dance with him and wouldn't just brush him off.

She didn't, as a matter of fact, Lois situated herself in his arms, albeit with enough room between them for another person to join, acting like it was a big deal and Clark just celebrated that small victory as he turned her around the dance floor..

He wasn't really paying attention, just marveling at the fact that he was dancing with Lois Lane and trying not to step on her feet, so they were run into by another couple and pushed even closer together.

It was like that chick movie Chloe made him watch a couple of weeks ago; Lois' eyes met his and Clark-as terribly cliched as it sounded-was once more struck by how beautiful she looked in that dress, how delicate she seemed to get when she got all dressed up...

How fragile...

He must've got distracted, because the next thing he knew was Lois' hand was pressed against his chest, right above his now pounding heart, making him offer her a shaky smile in reassurance while Lois looked at him like she was trying to see right through to his soul.

Clark was suddenly struck with the thought, and accompanying fear, that Lois wasn't going to find whatever it was she was looking for, no matter how deeply she looked at him. He was nearly indestructible, could run faster than the speed of light, could shoot fire from his eyes, and jumped high enough to count as nearly flying, but he was scared to death that normal, irritatingly persistent Lois Lane wouldn't think he was good enough for her.

Who knew?

Yet, it seemed that she had found whatever it was she was searching for, because Lois was suddenly leaning closer to him-or was he leaning closer to her?-and Clark was only seconds away from kissing Lois Lane, the woman who both irritated and fascinated him; no outside influences, omens, a unwelcome destiny or that damn red kryptonite getting in the way-!

_Oh my god!_

Clark's head jerked up, almost certain he had heard Chloe's voice as he had on that day, when had pulled away from Lois to see Lana walking in and interrupting his almost kiss, interrupting the life he had made with Lois to pursue something familiar and safe, how Lana had turned his carefully restructured world completely upside-down when she put on that twice damned suit and then found out that it was powered by green kryptonite, the decision on the roof that led to her being literally hazardous to his health and their final goodbye...

After Lana had breezed in and out of his life for what he hoped was the last time, Clark felt like the tiny baby steps he had made with Lois were suddenly wiped out and he had taken three giant steps back. Although, if he was totally honest, not all of that was Lana's fault; Lois did offer a olive branch when she returned from her trip to Star City... for the second time.

Having her back after telling her his secret, then rewriting it so that she didn't know anything despite how well she took it at the time, had Clark feeling more than a little awkward around Lois and the entire drive back to the Daily Planet had been silent and strained. Thankfully, Lois had chosen to wait until they had her baggage in the door before she started questioning him about it.

He had deflected her probing by saying that his silence was from the way that things had gotten a little hectic at Chloe's wedding, another thing that he wished he could rewrite, and Lois' response to that admission was a chuckle that was part disbelieving snort.

_Things got a little crazy __**before**__ all hell broke loose, let's face it..._ Lois seemed to suddenly realize what she had said, and everything that implied, because she quickly turned around and amended, _O-or we could not face it? And just forget that it ever almost happened..._

It was the closest that Lois had ever came to asking him to forget about something important, but the words from her alternate incarceration kept repeating in his head: _When you first told me your secret, I thought 'Anybody but Clark.'... and not because of the alien thing, I've dated enough guys to know that you could be born on Terra Firma and be light years from normal..._

He told her that he understood, he didn't need her to explain it to him, but Lois just shook her head at him, eyes filled with tears that seemed to be just on the verge of spilling over, _No, you __**don't**__. How can someone with x-ray vision be __**so**__ blind...? I've been down the hero road before... and every time I made a giant U-turn... but this... this was __**different**__._

He tried explaining to her that when he used the Legion ring, no one would remember what had happened, that everything would go back to how it was, but Lois looked even more hurt than before.

_And when you hit your reset button... you're not going to tell me your secret, are you? _He could only apologize, he didn't want to expose her to any **more** danger than she got into on her own, but she didn't see it that way: _It's okay, why should I think I'm special? Clark, I __**understand**__..._

He immediately disputed that idea, passionately disputed it, telling her that **she** didn't understand this time, and had pressed that they talk about it that day they stood in the Daily Planet lobby, him completely drenched from the rain outside, because Lois Lane **was **special...

Sure, Lana Lang had made hm feel normal, but Lois was the only one that had ever made him feel **human**. It seemed like such a small thing, yet so precious to him, but Clark wasn't really surprised that one else knew about it, considering how they reacted to his origins:

Every time he had told someone his secret, their view of him had drastically changed; Pete, his best friend since he could walk, had stressed that he had to watch everything he said and did so he didn't slip up, Chloe had taken it upon herself to make sure his 'destiny' was being fulfilled, Lex had treated him like he was an enemy/ally to conquer or control, and Lana...

Clark was pretty sure he scared her the first time he told her, had really told her and not that she had found out and thought that he was meteor infected, and she always looked at him a little differently after that... like she was just waiting for him to pop out of his skin or something...

Lois Lane was the only one who looked at him the same, had treated him same, knowing he was an alien and had come from another planet; to her, he was the same old 'Smallville' and could have tentacles growing out of his head and she'd probably stick a stack of papers and a pen in them, quipping that maybe he'd get his stories done faster with the extra arms, or trip over himself so badly she was going to have to pick up his slack even more than usual.

_Whoa, there, Smallville, let's back the tractor up right there!_ Clark could almost **hear** Lois laughing at him as he tried to picture how she would react to his new look, a grin of his own spreading across his face, _Tentacles coming out of your head? Come on, you know that even __**I**__ have my limits!_

Clark laughed aloud, causing a few of the people passing to give him strange looks, but he was too busy reminiscing to pay them any mind. He knew, despite what she might say and what she might do, Lois **did **have her limitations and he had found one rather accidentally the day he got his crystal back...

He had been surprised to see Lois standing on his front porch, announcing that they were going to be roommates yet again with all the care someone might use to tell a passerby the time. Clark had been a little hesitant at first, but had been distracted when Lois had announced that she had found a package for him on the steps.

The package's contents were the last thing that Clark would ever expected; his crystal, the one that had disappeared the same time that he did, fell into his hand and had almost immediately started to pulse.

Lois, upon seeing that the 'paperweight' in Clark's hand was starting to pulse and glow, had tried to get him to drop it, give it to her, or something that just got it as far away from him as possible. Clark was having none of it-the crystal was finally his again and he **needed** it-so he held it out of her reach until it engulfed the both of them in a sudden flash of light.

They ended up in the last place that Clark had ever wanted to visit; the Phantom Zone, the one area in the galaxy that made him completely powerless without the add of any Kryptonian stone. That powerlessness had been driven home when Lois got a good look at her surroundings and almost instantly started to freak out, inadvertently scaring Clark as well when his normally unflappable Lois began to yell and panic.

_ I don't want to die here, Clark!_

He had tried to calm her down, knowing that Lois using his first name was serious in itself, so he told her that all that they had to do was keep an eye on each other and they'd be fine, but that seemed to make Lois even more wigged out then before.

_We are __**not**__ fine! We are standing on our graves. We are going to __**die**__. Us. Together. No more farmhouse, no more __Daily Planet__!_

Clark had turned around and grabbed Lois by her shoulders, before stating in a voice his father had used whenever Clark had nightmares or was scared of something, that nothing was going to mess with Lois and Clark.

He must've gotten through to her then, for her response was to swallow, nod, and give him a shaky smile. _They better not._

It was the first time that he had ever referred to them as 'Lois and Clark' and he found himself liking the way that sounded, making a note to call them that more often. Lois would probably give him one of her looks, like she's trying to figure out where she heard/seen/remember that from before, but Clark would just tell her that he thought it sounded nice, which it did.

As he exited the elevator, Clark was surprised that Lois wasn't standing on the other side, ready to chew his ear off for ignoring her calls or for being late, or both. He **did** see her sitting at her computer, watching a cartoon that had a bunch of little girls floating around against a backdrop that was way too pink for Lois' tastes.

"Slow work day, Lois?" Clark laughed, setting the coffee and doughnuts on the edge of her desk as he pulled off his coat. He was turning to his own desk as he did so and and therefore missed the blonde head that poked out of the circle Lois' arms as soon as he spoke.

"Look, Mommy! Daddy is here!"

Clark froze in the act of sitting down right as Lois stood up, reveling Tara in her arms, looking as if her birthday had came early. Lois, on the other hand, looked even more freaked out then she did when they were trapped in the Phantom Zone... if that was even possible.

_I'm a dead man..._ Clark gave Lois a half-smile, wondering how in the hell he was going to explain himself out of it this time.


	5. Revelations

**Chapter Five: Revelations**

"You're sure?" A heavy sigh, almost the same power as one of a certain farm boy, followed the question and there was a few groans sounding around the room as well. This was the third time the question had been asked in the last minute and the **tenth** time since the conversation had started.

"_**Yes**_, Bart."

"100%?" A few blonde hairs left the head of one Oliver Queen, frustration causing him to grip his hair in a valiant effort not to wrap them around the throat of a super-powered annoyance currently stepping on his last nerve.

"Bart Allen, I don't care if you **are** faster than Clark, if you ask me that _**one more time, **_I _**swear**__-_"

"Okay, okay, just wanted to make sure... So the little blonde _chica_ from the future shows up in Clark's house all of a sudden, he gets the brilliant idea to bring her over here so that you guys can figure out how she got here and he can continue his day job as a mild mannered reporter-"

"Did you just describe **Clark Kent** as 'mild mannered'?" Victor questioned incredulously, interrupting Bart's rundown of present events with a raised eyebrow and accompanied snickers from the other Justice members, "Where did you get **that **one, out of a comic book?"

"Well, he **is** the politest giant I know, despite that old saying about 'being raised on a farm' people always use," Bart defended, causing the rest of the group to join in the laughter as well, "Anyway, after he shows up with mini-Kent in tow and lets you two babysit, we came in and met the little Superbaby-"

"-which led to two hours of Oliver convincing you that the kid wasn't his, that Chloe was not the mother, and that she wasn't related to her in any way that he knew," Victor interrupted yet again, barely getting his words out due to his laughter, "The look on Chloe's face was priceless!"

"I have yet to see the humor in this," Oliver muttered, glaring at his Justice group-they really needed to give their organization a name-who were still laughing their super powered asses off at this whole thing. Trying to explain things to an impatient Bart was like telling Clark not to be indestructible, or telling a glacier to not be cold; there was a reason his code name was 'Impulse'. "Do you guys realize how embarrassing that was to the both of us?"

Not only had that led to mortifying questions about Chloe's stamina-which in turn had led to Victor elbowing AC in the gut, something Oliver was still grateful to the cyborg for-it also brought back to the forefront of Oliver's mind the fact that he did have a child, with Chloe, whenever Tara had been born. Needless to say, he still had a hard time wrapping his head around that thought...

Not that he had anything against Chloe, he was in a relationship-of sorts-with her, and he was almost certain that his feelings for the blonde genius were growing to something someone could call love... if they squinted... but he never really thought that it would lead to fatherhood! Not to mention he had no idea how Chloe felt about the whole thing... Hadn't she already told him she didn't want anything more permanent than what they already had...? How was he suppose to convince her that Clark Kent wasn't the only one that dreamed of a family that consisted of a bunch of blond ankle-biters running around the house...?

He never really thought about those kind of things until Chloe came into his life, anyway. He had more of the lone wolf, free spirit, love-them-and-leave them types of life, so how was he going to convince Chloe of something he himself only just decided an hour ago...?

"Now that everything has been cleared up and you guys are finally finished talking about me," Chloe interrupted, her face definitely a little red as well as she made her way back into the room, making the group of males jump guiltily, Oliver especially because he had just been thinking about her. "We have a much more pressing problem to deal with..."

Oliver's heart dropped into his stomach as he realized that Chloe was staring right at him, her lip being worried between her teeth and a familiar bunny clenched in her fist... no little blonde Kent in sight.

"Tara's missing..." Chloe's hands gripped the bunny in her hands as if her squeezing it hard enough would bring the little girl back, "...and I can't find her with any of Watchtower's computers... All they detected was a sonic pulse, like when Clark super speeds around..."

The rest of the gang immediately started mounting up as if they were on one of their missions, Bart running a quick scan of the apartment complex to make sure she didn't just wander into another room and the computer missed it, muttering something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'He's gonna kill us, he's gonna kill us...'

Five minutes of panic preparation later, Oliver's phone rang.

Three minutes later, Oliver answered it.

Six minutes later, a very pale, very **shaky** Oliver Queen hung up his phone, dropped down on his couch, put his face in his hands, and stayed that way for a while before speaking. "Tara's at the Daily Planet..."

There was a few more minutes of silence, then a hesitant Bart asked, "Isn't that a good thing, Boss? We know were she is now..."

"Clark's with her, and so is Lois..." Oliver's face left his hands and his gaze locked with Chloe's, letting her know that he figured out what she had put together as soon as Tara first opened her mouth and spoke. "I've just been informed that I am a very dead man as soon as he comes back to Watchtower."

Every occupant winced in sympathy and did not envy the man when Clark got a hold of him...

-0-0-0-

Lois was looking at Clark in stony silence as the little girl jumped up and moved from her lap to Smallville's, her eyes narrowing as she silently demanded an answer to the obvious question, the question that had been bothering her since she first clapped eyes on the ankle-biter; who was the little girl sitting in Kent's lap?

"Daddy," The little girl called Smallville that when he came in... right before the kid called her-"Why is Mommy looking at you like that?"

There was another great question to bother her with; _Why the hell was this kid calling her 'Mommy'? Why the hell was she calling Smallville-__Smallville__!-'Daddy'? What the hell was going on here?_

_**You know the answer to that one, Lois Lane.**_ An inner voice answered, a voice that sounded suspiciously like the General's when he told her not to do something; it was the same tone h**e **used when he was berating one of his troops. _**It's about time that you solider up and admit to it!**_

Mentally shaking her head, Lois focused on the pair in front of her and the way that Smallville seemed so at ease with the child currently sitting in his lap, completely unconcerned that she kept calling him 'Daddy'. It reminded her, almost painfully, of Maddie. She was so against that little girl, but Kent seemed to almost instinctively know what to do.

_He would make a great father..._ The random thought made her made her smile, but the one that followed it made her cry out in surprise, soft enough not to disturb the pair that were now talking on the phone(Kent) and tickling the other(Tara).

For the next thought she had was of her standing beside the two in front of her, only she was the one holding Tara and Kent was looking down at them with this soft, happy smile. She saw the smile when she turned her head and reached up to caress his face, the light reflecting off a ring on her finger.

A **wedding** ring, on her left hand.

She was pulled out of her chaotic and revealing thoughts by little fingers attacking her legs, following by a high pitched voice somewhere in the region of her knees chirping, "Got you, Mommy. I'm tickwing yooou!"

Looking down, Lois saw that the girl had her little fingers digging into Lois' pant leg, trying valiantly to tickle her-**supposed**!-mother through a layer of denim and not making much of a difference despite being surprisingly strong for her age. It brought to the forefront of Lois' mind a memory, dim and faded, of Lois' own mother chasing her through the house, pale but happy, as Lois and Lucy laughingly eluded her.

_"Mommy's gonna get you!"_

The kid shrieked and ran behind Smallville, who was grinning slightly as Lois blinked at him, realizing belatedly that she must have said that last line aloud and the kid thought she was going to come after her...

Giving Smallville a wink, Lois sat down at her desk and began to pretend to type at her keyboard, all while conversing to no one in particular, in a voice that carried to the little blonde hiding behind Clark. "Gee, where did-?"

"Tara." was the almost immediate answer, causing Lois to give Clark a quick glare that said he had a lot of questions to answer later. He just shrugged, not phased in the least bit.

"-Tara go? I guess I'll just have to finish up my work since she disappeared..."

Unbeknown to Lois, she also got the attention of the other reporters in the bullpen, including one Tess Mercer, who had originally come downstairs to talk to Clark Kent and bother Lois with the knowledge that her boss was taking a personal interest in the ebony haired reporter...

Now, however, she watched with everyone else as the hardest hitting, single minded reporter in the whole building seemingly sat at her desk and worked while a little blonde kid crept from behind Kent and started to slowly inch toward said reporter, matching grins on both woman's faces.

Just as the little girl was reaching out to touch Lois' shoulder, she spun around and shouted, "Boo!", causing the girl to shriek and run circles around Lois' and Clark's desks, Lois catching her on the third run and totting her back to Smallville, who was laughing his country boy ass off.

"Well," Lois panted, a little winded as she came to stand beside Kent-who was looking far too smug about the whole thing-"What are we going to do with the little ankle-biter now?"

Clark's only response was to wiggle his fingers in Tara's face, making her shriek again as she squirmed madly in Lois' arms, almost causing the brunette to drop her as she twisted in a vain attempt to get away from Smallville's tickling hands.

"No fair!" Tara giggled, almost falling right onto the cement floor if it hadn't been for Clark's suddenly quick reflexes, "Mommy! Hewp me!"

"Okay," Lois replied and handed her off to Smallville, who looked at her in surprise at the sudden change in mood. Grinning widely, she took up where he left off, instinctively knowing where Tara's most ticklish spot were, causing the blonde to wriggle around like a worm caught on a hook.

"Mommy! That is not hewping!"

Lois could only laugh at her maybe daughter's face, Clark's deep baritone joining in a few seconds later when Tara turned her pout on him, fully expecting sympathy from at least **one** of her parents.

"Hey, don't look at me like that, I know better than to get in Lois' way when she wants something," The smile he sent her over Tara's head was tender and loving, making Lois' heart clench and something warm to spread throughout her entire body, causing a shiver she hoped he didn't see to escape.

Coughing to cover up her embarrassment and to give her time to find her equilibrium, Lois stuck her tongue out at her coworker, who just laughed at the slightly childish gesture. "'Bout time you realized that, Smallville. It'll be a lot easier on you once you realize I **always** get what I want!"

"Now kiss!" Tara yelped, bringing their attention back to the little girl between them, who had been looking back and forth between the two with a grin of her own spreading across her face at her parents' antics.

Glad of the distraction, Lois once more attacked her **supposed** daughter with what the little munchkin was calling 'tickle monsters', this time missing the soft, happy-and slightly wistful-look that Clark Kent sent her bent form.

-0-0-0-

She stood steadily on the rooftop of the building where everything changed, where her choice of defiance had severed her life from his forever by a single act of malice concocted by a madman they both had thought was their friend, once upon a time...

Her time had been spent trying to find that man, not totally convinced that the explosion had killed him; after all, he had created a clone of her, who was to say that he hadn't created one of himself...? Her trail had hit a dead end and she decided to visit Metropolis and see someone familiar...

Now, however, everything was different; changing into something almost completely unrecognizable from the last time she had stood on this very building's roof... Clark was now working almost twenty-four/seven at the Daily Planet, The Blur was getting recognition from as far away as Star City and seemed to be under the personal watch of Lois Lane, whose byline always had a mention of him, no matter what story she was working on.

A few years ago, she would have worried about the brunette reporter and the fact that she seemed to be so close to the man that was so important to the world, but he had denied any involvement on multiple occasions with a fire she never thought Clark capable of and multiple people had said that Clark Kent and Lois Lane went together like oil and water, mud and wine...

Seeing them interact herself and the very **violent** way they did so, she was a little surprised that they hadn't tried to kill each other beforehand... Clark had even remarked once that he would have liked to smother her with a pillow, something that seemed to surprise even **Chloe** and she knew Clark almost better than anyone...

Breathing in deep, she opened up all her senses, trying to pinpoint where he was now... He would be so happy when he found out that she had found a way to null the effects of the kryptonite powering her suit, that they could once again be together, this time for good... Saving the world and making it better, together...

He was right under her, working as an ordinary reporter, as if he was an ordinary person. She shook her head, a small smile on her lips as she thought of how everyone had no idea that there was a hero within their midst, seeing only the mask that Clark put on for them...

Soft, feminine laughter joined Clark's voice, a hidden intimacy causing the hairs on the back of Lana's neck to rise, a sinking feeling growing in the pit of her stomach as childlike giggles joined in, followed by Clark's deep laughter in growing volume.

_No... This isn't happening... This __can't__ be happening...!_ Lana Lang super-sped into the Daily Planet, stopping a floor above so no one saw her entering and confused her with The Blur... it also allowed her to get an uncompromising view of Clark and the females around him.

Clark was holding a little blonde girl in his arms, her head thrown back as she laughed with abandonment while she was being tickled unmercifully by Lois Lane, drawing even more attention from the other reporters in the bullpen, who were watching them interact with various forms of amusement, wistfulness and satisfaction. One pair of reporters were even settling a bet as Lois moved from the girl's sides to her feet.

"They look so cute," An ebony haired female sighed, her eyes gazing longingly at the trio currently completely oblivious to the rest of the world. "They look like a family... I wonder if Kent and Lane adopted her..."

Another sigh and the girl was gone, leaving an utterly horrified Lana Lang behind her, completely unable to focus on anything other than the group in front of her, a single word resonating through her brain.

_Adopted...?_

Clark must have realized that someone was watching them, for he looked up and caught her gaze, the smile that seemed to stretch across his face slipping off as he recognized just who was standing there. It took Lois a few seconds to catch that Clark was no longer paying attention, causing her to pull the girl between them tighter to her chest... however, Clark must have had the same idea, for he pulled the girl tighter to **his** chest as well, inadvertently causing the three of them to move even closer together.

The whole thing made Lana feel like some kind of monster that was going to rip them all apart, causing her throat to close up and her chest to clench painfully as the little girl looked from the adults holding her to Lana in confusion, her features finally close enough for Lana to see the familiarity in them.

_No...!_

"Clark?" Her voice sounded so weak, so pathetic, but she couldn't find it in herself to care. She needed to talk to him, to find out what had happened; she hadn't expected him to pine around for her, but how had this happened?

Long ago, her soft cry would have brought him running, eager to tell her that it would be alright or that she would be fine because he would protect her, but now he just brought his arm around to include **Lois** in his protective embrace as he stiffly stated, "Lana."

"You've changed," Her shock made the statement sound like an accusation, but he neither flinched, nor backed down as he answered, showing her he had indeed changed and it was in more ways than she originally thought.

"Yes, I have." Lois, surprisingly, was silent throughout their little chat, making Lana wonder just what all the girl knew and how she managed to extract the information from Clark. It had taken Lana years to figure out his secret; it was one of the major problems with their relationship, the lack of trust.

"Daddy..." The soft plea brought Lana's attention back to fact that there was a fourth actor in this little play, the title she had given Clark shooting through her like an arrow to the heart, "Who is this?"

The look Clark and Lois shared dug the arrow even deeper as Lana recognized the way Clark's eyes seemed to apologize without saying anything. She remembered when he used to look at her like that... but what was he apologizing for?

"She's an old friend of Daddy's, sweetie," His tone when talking to the child was endearing and the way he looked at her made Lana feel envious of the woman in Clark's arms, the woman he had moving behind him as Lana moved forward.

"My name is Lana-" Her introduction was abruptly cut off as Clark suddenly bowed over, taking the little girl with him as he started gasping, the little girl releasing a cry of her own as well, both of their eyes locked on the ebony haired woman that had stepped toward them...

Lana was frozen, unable to move as she saw the green veins throbbing in both Clark's and the little girl's temples, unable to breathe as Clark tried to twist his body so that the blonde was shielded, but was too weakened to do more than pull her closer to his chest as she started crying softly.

"It hurts, Daddy! **It hurts**!"


End file.
